use-icon

HOW TO USE THE DICTIONARY

To look up an entry in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, use the search window above. For best results, after typing in the word, click on the “Search” button instead of using the “enter” key.

Some compound words (like bus rapid transit, dog whistle, or identity theft) don’t appear on the drop-down list when you type them in the search bar. For best results with compound words, place a quotation mark before the compound word in the search window.

guide to the dictionary

use-icon

THE USAGE PANEL

The Usage Panel is a group of nearly 200 prominent scholars, creative writers, journalists, diplomats, and others in occupations requiring mastery of language. Annual surveys have gauged the acceptability of particular usages and grammatical constructions.

The Panelists

open-icon

AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY APP

The new American Heritage Dictionary app is now available for iOS and Android.

scroll-icon

THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY BLOG

The articles in our blog examine new words, revised definitions, interesting images from the fifth edition, discussions of usage, and more.

100-words-icon

See word lists from the best-selling 100 Words Series!

Find out more!

open-icon

INTERESTED IN DICTIONARIES?

Check out the Dictionary Society of North America at http://www.dictionarysociety.com

die 1 (dī)
Share:
intr.v. died, dy·ing (dīĭng), dies
1. To stop living; become dead; expire: plants that died in the first frost of the season.
2. To cease existing, often gradually; fade: The sunlight died in the west.
3. To experience an intense, seemingly unbearable reaction to something: nearly died of embarrassment.
4. Informal To want something very much. Usually used in the progressive aspect: I am dying for a box of chocolates. She was dying to see the exhibit.
5. To stop working or operating: The motor died when we ran out of gas.
6. To become indifferent: had died to all worldly concerns.
Phrasal Verbs:
die back Botany
To be affected by dieback.
die down
To lose strength; subside: The winds died down.
die off
To undergo a sudden, sharp decline in population: hypothesized that pesticides were causing bees to die off across the country.
die out
To cease living or existing completely; become extinct: a theory that explains how the dinosaurs died out; customs that died out with the advent of technology.
Idioms:
die hard
1. To take a long time in passing out of existence: racial prejudices that die hard.
2. To resist against overwhelming, hopeless odds: radicalism that dies hard.
die on the vine
To fail, as from lack of support, especially at an early stage: a plan that died on the vine.
to die for Informal
Remarkable or highly desirable.
[Middle English dien, probably from Old Norse deyja; see dheu-2 in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 
die 2 (dī)
Share:
n.
1. pl. dice(dīs)
a. A small cube marked on each side with from one to six dots, usually used in pairs in gambling and in various other games.
b. dice (used with a sing. verb) A game of chance using dice.
2. pl. dies A device used for cutting out, forming, or stamping material, especially:
a. An engraved metal piece used for impressing a design onto a softer metal, as in coining money.
b. One of several component pieces that are fitted into a diestock to cut threads on screws or bolts.
c. A part on a machine that punches shaped holes in, cuts, or forms sheet metal, cardboard, or other stock.
d. A metal block containing small conical holes through which plastic, metal, or other ductile material is extruded or drawn.
3. pl. dies Architecture The dado of a pedestal, especially when cube-shaped.
tr.v. died, die·ing, dies
To cut, form, or stamp with or as if with a die.
Idioms:
load the dice
1. To make an outcome highly probable; predetermine a result: “These factors merely load the dice, upping the odds that a household will fall into a certain ... income distribution” (Thomas G. Exter).
2. To put another at a distinct disadvantage, as through prior maneuver: The dice were loaded against the defendant before the trial.
no dice
1. Of no use; futile.
2. Used as a refusal to a request.
the die is cast
The decision has been made and is irrevocable.
[Middle English de, gaming die, from Old French, possibly from Latin datum, given (as by fortune in the roll of the dice), neuter of datus, past participle of dare, to give; see dō- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]
(click for a larger image)
die2
dies used to coin the euro
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

American Heritage Dictionary Products